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Homeless in Sacramento via @Peta_de_Aztlan

Keep in mind that the City of Sacramento is the seat of the Capitol of the great State of California. We now have the liberal Jerry Brown as our Governor. I voted for him, though I am a register independent voter these days, no longer a registered Democrat since POTUS Obama’s escalation in the Afghanisnam War. I usually refer to Afghanistan as AfghaniNAM to remind us of the lessons of Vietnam.

Plus, in the City of Sacramento we now have a liberal progressive African-American named Kevin Johnson as our Mayor of the City of Sacramento. So what is the big deal about homeless people camping out in vacant open space by the American River? Where is our People Power?
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About Safe Ground Sacramento ~ http://bit.ly/dMXY7h
To Turn Lives Around

Being homeless, being in need, should not be a crime. And it can no longer be an invisible problem that we just turn away from, or that we assume can never be “solved.”

That’s why many of Sacramento’s largest and oldest homeless service organizations, including Loaves & Fishes, Francis House, Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee have banded together with other non-profit organizations, businesses and individuals to find a solution for the problem.

Tough times demand creative solutions. Sacramento has public land that no one is using – land that, along with a sleeping cottage can provide a homeless person with a safe place to stay for only $3,000 to $5,000.

We are asking the City to provide our homeless neighbors with the most basic human right – a safe place to be – and a safe place to rebuild lives – a place called “Safe Ground”.

“Safe Ground” is…
* A secure location, sanctioned by the city & operated by the residents
* A place with clean water, toilets, and garbage collection
* A place where residents can be free from harassment and danger
* A place where homeless people can access services they need to turn their lives around

Every day, more than 1,200 homeless men, women, and children are struggling to make it on Sacramento County’s streets. Homelessness is not a new problem. But a bad economy means more people on the streets, and fewer government dollars to help them.

Making it a crime to be homeless means even fewer can work their way out. The City’s “camping ordinance” makes it illegal for anyone to use or store camping paraphernalia on public property. It makes being homeless a crime.

The constant threat of arrest, the lack of sleep and of sanitary conditions, exacerbates any mental or physical impairment that may have contributed to their homelessness in the first place. And the lack of “safe ground” – where homeless people can stay, leave their belongings and be more accessible to service providers, lessens the chance they will be able to work their way out of homelessness.

It’s time that our state’s Capitol show some leadership on this issue. Sacramento can be a model for all cities around the state and the nation by being the first city in California to declare a “safe ground” for homeless people.
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LINK Safeground: Advocating for City sanctioned Safe Ground areas run by homeless residents with basic services and sanitation ~ http://www.safegroundsac.org
On Twitter @SafeGroundSac ~ Sacramento, CA
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It is impossible to get an accurate count of the homeless in Sacramento because of the nomadic nature of homeless refugees in the streets. If the governing powers in the Sacramento area cannot have the wise governance to provide a Safeground area for the homeless who simply want free space on the ground to sleep at night, then those who are governing need to be replaced or at least be criticized for their lack of bold leadership!

The ‘homeless issue’ is a lot more complex than may first seem apparent to those who are not aware of this social issue and how it is intertwined with other social issues. It is more than simply giving someone a home, though having a home of our own is the best place to start. We must also look at the root causes of homeless people or domestic refugees, especially for those who need to break out of the chronic homeless cycle.

We can mention in passing a variety of them:
~ the unrecognized Great Depression inside the United States over which the U.S. Government is in a general state of denial in its official statements calling it a mere ‘recession’;
~ the dysfunctionalism of large sectors of the general society on various levels, along with the public apathy, prejudice against the homeless and the stigma of being homeless;
~ the related dysfunctional social institutions (prison system, welfare system, school system, non-profit sectors);
~ broken families with children raised by parents with poor or no parenting skills often with low formal education levels;
~ the widespread presence of low or no self-esteem among homeless people often involving low or no inner self-esteem, the impairment of drug addiction, mental disorders and lack of social-employment skills.

The existence of homeless people in such large numbers is a sign of the general decay of society, a failed state, the ever present ‘canary in the mine’ whose continued existence is interconnected to the well-being of all of us. Homeless people can be thought of as domestic refugees inside the United States. Obviously there is ‘something wrong’ with a social system where thousands are now homeless refugees, including many families with children.

As compassionate humane beings we need to reassess our social priorities based upon the basic common needs of all people: food, clothing, shelter, medical care and quality education. The key here is for us evolve from being mere human animals into being humane beings who have care, concern and compassion for all people or we may not even give a damn about others.

We need to create new housing programs for homeless refugees that address their basic humane needs, utilize their skills and talents and prevent instances of future homelessness. Homeless refugees reflect the general society and its priorities.

In the process of addressing social issues, we need to build up a new democracy, participate as much as we can in making this a truly democratic socialist society and ensure that the majority of the people are fairly and proportionately represented in order for us to lay a valid claim to being a true democratic society.

At present, traditional politics is corrupt and rotten to the core. Both major parties, the two-headed monster of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, do not truly represent the people or strive to involve the mass participation of the people. A true democracy must be a participatory democracy, not a false representative democracy. Now electoral politics is controlled by those who have the most money, the best connections and the best mass marketing campaigns. POTUS Obama, as great as his oratorical skills are with his flashy smile, has failed to live up to his campaign promises and has been co-opted by big corporate and military interests. We must not be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils when we vote.

In connected reality all these social issues are related and interconnected. We must see these connections in order for us to see the Big Picture.

We should support Safeground, help the homeless and all get involved in making the United States a truly democratic society because the vast majority of the people are involved in making it work in the general interests of the majority of the people, including homeless refugees.